1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for checking objects which are carried by persons when entering a closed-off area, wherein the device comprises a checking area and a first transport device for transporting the objects from the first location outside of the checking area into the checking area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Checking devices or check points of the aforementioned kind are known. They are used, for example, in airports in order to check objects, such as carry-on luggage, clothing, cell phones, laptops etc., carried by the passengers when entering the closed-off departure area with respect to bombs, weapons etc. In addition to their use in airports, other applications are also conceivable, for example, in connection with access to public events such as sporting events, concerts etc. Further applications are possible within the area of political conventions but also when entering other security-relevant areas, for example, in industrial corporations, weapons technology corporations, secret service organizations etc.
For reasons of simplification, the following explanations are only directed to the use of the checking device in airports. However, the same holds true also correspondingly for the other applications.
Conventional checking devices of the aforementioned kind have only a single transport device. When entering the departure area of an airport, the passengers are required to place their carry-on luggage, coat, cell phone or laptop etc. onto the transport device whereupon the aforementioned objects are then transported, partly manually, partly motor-driven, into the actual checking area. It was found that the passengers require a relatively long period of time in order to place the objects onto the transport device. For example, it requires some time for the passengers to take off their coats. Further time is required for taking objects to be checked out of pant pockets and to place them onto the transport device. As long as a passenger is occupied with placing the objects to be checked onto the transport device, the following passengers must wait. During this time period, the control area is also not being used because no objects can be guided into it before the aforementioned passenger has not placed them onto the transport device.
Because of this waiting period the throughput of the checking device, i.e., the number of passengers passing through per time unit, is not optimized.
It is an object of the present invention to further develop a checking device of the aforementioned kind such that the throughput is improved.
In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved in that a second transport device is provided for transporting the objects from a second location, which is also outside of the checking area but does not coincide with the first location, into the checking area.
The invention is based on the surprisingly simple recognition that the time which the passenger needs in order to place the objects to be checked by the checking device onto the transport device can be used to check objects carried by another passenger. Accordingly, not a complete second checking device is being used but only a second transport device is added so that with a minimal expenditure a maximum improvement of the throughput can be obtained.
In this connection, it can be provided according to the invention that the second transport device coincides over a portion thereof with the first transport device. Accordingly, it is not necessary to provide mandatorily a complete further transport path extending into the checking area. It is only required that the two transport devices are separated to such an extent as needed for two persons to place their carried objects at the same time onto the respective transport device, with one being at the aforementioned first location and the other being at the second location.
According to the invention it is especially preferred when the first and the second transport devices are oriented relative to one another in the form of a switch. In other words, the transport paths correlated with the two transport devices are combined after a certain travel distance so that the apparatus expenditure is correspondingly reduced. The transport path, when viewed in a direction counter to the transport direction, is thus branched.
In addition to the first and second transport devices, a third transport device for transporting the objects out of the checking area can be provided according to the invention. It was actually found that the removal of the objects from the transport devices requires substantially less time than the placement of the objects onto the transport devices so that a branching of the transport downstream of the checking area is not necessarily required. However, such a branching is not expressly excluded.
According to the invention it is furthermore preferred that the third transport device is configured such that the objects are transported to a third location which is outside of the checking area but does not coincide with the first or the second location. This makes it possible that the persons which collect the already checked objects will not hinder or disturb those persons which are placing or have just placed their objects onto the first or the second transport device for the purpose of checking.
In this connection it is furthermore preferred that the checking area is a transfer lock and the first and the second locations, viewed in the transport direction, are positioned upstream of the transfer lock while the third location is positioned downstream of the transfer lock. This provides a quasi xe2x80x9corientedxe2x80x9d movement of the persons and of the objects to be checked which results in an especially smooth operation of the entire checking process.
According to the invention, the first, the second and/or the third transport device preferably comprises rollers which are supported so as to be rotatable about horizontal axes which rollers are arranged such that the objects placed onto the rollers are movable in the transport direction. An object placed onto these rollers can thus be transported or moved with minimal force expenditure toward the checking area.
The checking area can in principle be of any suitable kind. According to the invention, it is however preferred that the checking area is an X-ray device. According to this embodiment, the objects to be checked are penetrated by X-rays and a corresponding image is displayed on a monitor. The image on the monitor is then checked by a security specialist for the presence of suspicious objects.
In particular in the case of employing X-rays in the checking area, but also for other types of checking, it is preferred according to the invention that at least a portion positioned within the checking area of the first, the second and/or the third transport device is motor-driven. This achieves two things. On the one hand, in regard to the transport of the objects to be checked, it is not required to manually move the objects, which is important with respect to possible health risks as a result of the X-rays. On the other hand, with the motor drive an optimal transport speed can be selected for the checking step in the checking area, which is not necessarily the case when the objects are manually moved through the checking area.
The motor-driven part of the first, the second and/or the third transport device can in principle be designed as desired. Possible is, for example, a motor drive for the above-mentioned rollers. According to the invention it is preferred that the motor-driven portion of the first, second and/or third transport device has a transport belt. Such a transport belt has in particular the advantage that the objects transported thereon are carried safely.